The Castlemaine Community Investment Co-operative debenture campaign to buy Castlemaine’s historic Hub building is in its final days with an incredible $1,404,500 having been raised by members as of Tuesday morning. Local community members are urged to sign up to be a member and purchase a debenture before the campaign closes this Sunday June 29. The Co-op needs to raise $1.95M to be successful in its bid to buy the historic building and retain it in community ownership.
The debentures offer up to 4 per cent annual return over a 5, 10 or 15-year term, making them an attractive option for socially conscious investors.
Both individuals and organisations can participate, with minimum investments starting at $500 through to $500,000.
From Pub to Hub
The building has a long and proud history perhaps most notably during its century as the Council Club Hotel where it was a place of conviviality, warmth, a place to relax and a place where local residents may have had one or two too many.
In its time as a pub it was run by up to a dozen different licensees and their families and housed up to 20 guests at any one time. During its lifetime the hotel is estimated to have served around five million beers and two million meals and was an important gathering place for the Castlemaine community.
Renowned local storyteller, writer and folk musician and Co-op member Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky said he was honoured to be invited to narrate a short film on the history of the building – From Pub to Hub back in 2010.
“The information was painstakingly compiled by the current owners of ‘The Hub’ Neil and Heather Barrett and they asked me to help bring it to life. “The short film features some incredible images and some wonderful stories and memories from local characters about the role the hotel played in the local community during its lifetime and a little bit about its most recent transformation,” Jan said.
The hotel was founded by Charles Medcalf in 1875. He came from a long line of family butchers and migrated to Australia in the 1940s. He married his wife Eliza Brand in Adelaide in 1849 before making his way across to the goldfields.
He ran four hotels on the local goldfields including the grand two storey Metropolitan Hotel which once stood on the corner of Mostyn and Hargraves Streets where Subway is today.
“Later Medcalf knocked down the former gold rush buildings at the corner of Barker and Templeton Streets to build his very own single storey hotel. It is not known why he called the new hotel the Council Club Hotel – but as it was two drop kicks from the Castlemaine Town Hall as it was back then so this would seem the likely explanation,” Jan said.
The new hotel got quite the glowing write up in our sister paper the Castlemaine Mail’s predecessor The Mount Alexander Mail at the time stating Medcalf had spared no expense on his latest offering.
He later grew tired of the business and sold it his son-in-law John Dale who was married to his daughter Eliza. However, Dale reportedly met a tragic end and a year later in 1893 Eliza sold the hotel to William Munchin.
Just after Federation in 1902 the owner at the time Aitken hired Tonks Bros to add a second storey to the building which reportedly took the team just 84 days.
The “handsome” newly renovated building was once again praised in the Mail as a “an ornament and credit to the town”.
Among the characters to share their memories in the film was one of the town’s last icemen Bob Phillips who delivered ice to the pub three times a day to keep the beer lines chilled until electricity came to Castlemaine in the late 1940s.
In 1958 the hotel welcomed what were to be its last licensees Jim O’Keefe and his wife Bon.
Daughter Lois O’Keefe was 16 at the time and not impressed with the move from Frankston.
“I just hated it,” she said.
But things soon improved for Lois as she quickly joined the social fabric of Castlemaine.
While working as barmaid at the family pub she met her future husband Jack Ginnivan and was married at 19. The couple welcomed twin boys Craig and Bradley Ginnivan a year later.
In the film Craig and Bradley recall playing in the bar in the 1970s and causing a few patrons to think they were seeing double!
Lois recalled that a couple of blokes from the brewery had created an ‘electric chair’ for the bar which was rigged up with some batteries and locals used to love tricking visitors by inviting them to ‘take a seat’ before they received a rude shock.
“Inevitably their beer would go flying but my father would compensate the unsuspecting patron with another beer,” she said.
Trading on Sundays was illegal in those days and over the years the Lewis, Lewin, and O’Keefe families had a few run-ins with local police. But mostly it seems local officers turned a blind eye to the practice if the hotel kept any Sunday gatherings quiet and composed.
Sleeper cutter and truck driver the late Max McLean and his brothers are pictured an image taken on the last day of trade at the pub.
In the film Max shares the story of one old fella who was advised by the barmen he was full and replied, “‘I’m not full at all. When you see me walking along with my head back then I am full.’ Why is that the barman asked? ‘So I don’t spill any’,” Max said.
Due to rising costs the owners of the Council Club Hotel at the time – Carlton United Breweries – made the decision to close the pub in 1970 and the popular hosts the O’Keefe’s retired.
In the 1970s and 80s the building was looking for a new career. It was a fish and chip shop and later a clothing store. In 1980 it was passed in at auction well below its reserve of $53,000. It seems nobody could see a good use for the former hotel – it was a low point in the building’s life. However, six years later it was purchased and began another successful new chapter as B & B and quality restaurant Ellimatta.
Current owners Neil and Heather Barratt purchased the building in 2006 as a home for the Mount Alexander Sustainability Group (MASG) but much of it was unusable when they first took it on.
In 2009 they renovated the building from the ground up utilising the sustainability features they are so passionate about.
‘The Hub’ was officially opened for business in April 2010 by Barry Jones.
“Crosby Architects did the design for the renovation of the building and then worked with a team of consultants to design The Paddock. It’s been a long association,” Heather Barrett said.
“We also installed double glazed windows in the foyer, the light well which acts as a thermal chimney, water tanks, energy efficient lighting and many other features.”
Over the years the building has hosted a number of successful businesses including restaurant The Good Table, Bonkers on Barker Cafe, coffee windows, and a range of sustainability and community focused businesses and community groups.
In March 2023 the Barretts made the difficult decision to put the 120-year-old property on the market.
At the time the Castlemaine couple said they were both ‘above’ retirement age and had decided the time had come to sell the historic property to focus on their other major project – The Paddock Eco Village, which was recently competed, their other passion The Hub Foundation, and spend time with family.
The pair were both awarded OAMs for their environmental work at The Hub Foundation and The Paddock Eco Village in 2021.
The Barretts have now been proud custodians of the iconic building for the last 19 years and the Co-op are thrilled to have their support in their bid to keep the site in community hands.
The building currently houses 17 tenants across the 19 rooms and the coffee window, plus a meeting room. This includes the sustainability organisations: Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY) community composting, Connecting Country, Trust for Nature, Vegetation Link, eco2sys, Farmers for Climate Change and the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance.
To find out how you can purchase a debenture and part of the building’s next chapter visit the Co-op website www.castlemaine.coop
You can also view the film From Pub to Hub on the website at https://castlemaine.coop/pub-to-hub
